Online authentication, in favor of it or not?

[PvtRyan]

I just read an article in the PC Gameplay review issue, that every HL2 package requires an internet connection to do a one time online authentication. This will help anti-piracy hugely, so I'm in favor of it a hundred percent.

Sure, it's probably still possible to bypass it, but it will be too much of a hassle for the avarage gamer so he will buy it.

I wonder if it's still possible to do a non-Steam install.

 

[Shuzer]

Sounds great. I'm all for it.

 

[exoeight]

yeah, i'm for it, this is one of those things i buy out of respect, so go hl2!

 

[Johan_Tayn]

have people who aren't online even heard of HL2? If yes, why would they be interested? meh..

 

[f|uke]

I do wonder about people without internet connections,. they are out there,.. what will they do?

This is fine with me, although I don't see how it will effect piracy. There will still be a pirate group release, and I wouldn't be suprised if some 'fix' popped up on GCWorld for the average joe duper.

 

[Gorgon]

I don't see how this is going to stop warezing HL2.

there are goin to be alot of ways to crack it. (Play it Offline).

I am going to buy THE CE. I have't waited all these years for A warez version

 

[Feath]

There are quite a few people without net connexions so I really doubt this is the case. I can understand it needing it if you buy it off Steam, but why aren't the CDs proof enough?

I think they misunderstood.

 

[Hazar]

There are quite a few people without net connexions so I really doubt this is the case. I can understand it needing it if you buy it off Steam, but why aren't the CDs proof enough?

I think they misunderstood.

because cd's can be faked.

I'm for it.

 

[JPack]

I'm definitely in favor of it.

Seeing as how Doom 3 was pirated so quickly, I'd be surprised if HL2 didn't require some kind of authentication.

 

[l337vegeta]

since i'm actually gonna buy it, i'm all for it :thumbs:

 

[Feath]

because cd's can be faked.

I'm for it.

I'm not for it. And neither will Valve be. This is as much true as the "You need to be online to play over a lan" thing that everyone had an issue about a year ago.

EDIT: I know of a lot of games that copies of CDs don't work. You need a crack to get them to work. So if you are going to argue that, you have to accept that people will be able to bypass this Steam thing.

 

[Ari de Verci]

That reminds me of trying to play HL on LAN... Each time I started a server, the damn thing would try to connect to WON through my modem - but the connection dialog actually popped in the background, leaving me staring at a blank screen. I thought the game had hanged, and reset the computer. It took me quite a few tries to figure it out.
Anyway, I'm against additional verification, CD checks are annoying enough. These may seem a small nuisance at first, but in the right circumstances become a major pain.
Plus, I hate it when a legally bought game (music,video) is much less functional than a pirated copy.

 

[JPack]

There are quite a few people without net connexions so I really doubt this is the case. I can understand it needing it if you buy it off Steam, but why aren't the CDs proof enough?

I'm sure the loss due to piracy outweighs the sales lost to those who don't have an Internet connection.

 

[Feath]

I'm sure the loss due to piracy outweighs the sales lost to those who don't have an Internet connection.

Not for the the people who don't have net access.

God, the amount of you that think that the entire world is just wired up to the internet is ridiculous. A huge amount of people don't have net access. Enough for Valve to not want

 

[PvtRyan]

I do wonder about people without internet connections,. they are out there,.. what will they do?

This is fine with me, although I don't see how it will effect piracy. There will still be a pirate group release, and I wouldn't be suprised if some 'fix' popped up on GCWorld for the average joe duper.

But that fix will be worthless after the next Steam update, that's why it's too much trouble for the avarage gamer, redownloading fixes every week so he'll just buy the game and live with out that annoyance.

I'm not for it. And neither will Valve be. This is as much true as the "You need to be online to play over a lan" thing that everyone had an issue about a year ago.

It's a one time thing.

And about people not having internet connections, do those cavemen still exist? And if they do, you can easily go to the neighbours or a cybercafe and register your cd-key with Steam there.
And it's nonsense that someone with a pc good enough to play HL2 wouldn't have a 56K modem on their motherboard. And a free provider cd, hell I used to put my drinking glasses on them so many of those I received.

there are goin to be alot of ways to crack it. (Play it Offline).

But Offline probably won't work for HL2 before you registered online.

 

[Dr0ndeh]

I don't see how this is going to stop warezing HL2.

there are goin to be alot of ways to crack it. (Play it Offline).

I am going to buy THE CE. I have't waited all these years for A warez version

yeh this game is far too fancy for a dirty warez version, im going for the gold version :E

 

[Varsity]

In favour - although offline WILL eventually be hacked. It won't be as good as legal offline, though. No updates and so on, I bet.

 

[Feath]

Anyway, this would be really easy to bypass. Go online, Auth, go offline. Repeat. You could have hundreds of copies of Half-Life 2 playing at the same time.

I'm sure what PC Gameplay meant was that if you buy off Steam you have to be authed to play the game (exactly the same as Half-Life, you can't log out of Steam).

Magazines can get things wrong. Remember the old "You can drive a Strider" quote?

 

[f|uke]

But that fix will be worthless after the next Steam update, that's why it's too much trouble for the avarage gamer, redownloading fixes every week so he'll just buy the game and live with out that annoyance.

Pirates dont need updates,. they cant play online anyways (true since the days of WON). They'll still be able to play through HL2 SP just fine.

So I dont see how this changes much..

To Ari de Verci: online authentification doesn't require any thought/action if you've got broadband. And because of this, they might forego CD verification anyways,. in which case, this would be more functional then your average game.

In that sense, I can see it as being a good thing

However, i'm getting Steam Gold anyways. What do I care?

 

[Dr0ndeh]

Magazines can get things wrong. Remember the old "You can drive a Strider" quote?

thats still yet to be proved wrong afaik.

 

[Varsity]

Anyway, this would be really easy to bypass. Go online, Auth, go offline. Repeat. You could have hundreds of copies of Half-Life 2 playing at the same time.

Do you really think that?

thats still yet to be proved wrong afaik.

It came from theeInfo from Valve thread, where they said they made it drivable "for out own entertainment".

 

[Feath]

thats still yet to be proved wrong afaik.

It's near 95% proven wrong considering that they got the quote from here. And the quote just said "We made the Strider drivable just for fun one day". (Paraphrased).

 

[Dr0ndeh]

It came from theeInfo from Valve thread, where they said they made it drivable "for out own entertainment".

they said that........then left it in the game for us all to stomp around in

 

[Feath]

Do you really think that?

Yes, you could do that now. I haven't even touched my CZ CDs but I've played it offline a number of times. How would they know that I was playing in offline mode on one computer and online mode on another?

This is about as good copy protection as Microsoft writting "Do not make illegal copies of this disc" on CDs it publishes.

 

[JPack]

Not for the the people who don't have net access.

God, the amount of you that think that the entire world is just wired up to the internet is ridiculous. A huge amount of people don't have net access. Enough for Valve to not want

Sure, but HL2 isn't being sold everywhere. Chances are, those who can buy HL2 from a store and have a reasonably fast computer are going to have access to the Internet.

 

[Inanimate]

Whatever stops piracy/cheating related to the games distributed by Steam and Valve is good.. It needs to come to an end..

/D

 

[Feath]

Sure, but HL2 isn't being sold everywhere. Chances are, those who can buy HL2 from a store and have a reasonably fast computer are going to have access to the Internet.

Why? Internet access isn't something that you can buy with a computer. It's not like saying "Any new computer will have 512mb of RAM". It depends on where you are and your income. I'm a student but I can't afford net access in my flat at Edinburgh.

 

[Ari de Verci]

Whatever stops piracy/cheating related to the games distributed by Steam and Valve is good.. It needs to come to an end..

/D

How about "they game never actually leaves Valve, you can come and play it Mondays-Fridays 9-15 for a small fee"?

Actually, the only sure protection against piracy I know is making a game suck so bad nobody wants it... It's getting more popular these days...

 

[Cole]

Feath, look i bought a MMORPG, i don't have the internet. Ohh damn now i can't play it since its online only. Ill take it back..

HL2 only requires a 1 time internet activation. Thats all, you don't have the be online for anything else... Not 1 thing. And if you can't then ohh well. Just bring the game back.

 

[Frost]

I'm not for it. And neither will Valve be. This is as much true as the "You need to be online to play over a lan" thing that everyone had an issue about a year ago.

EDIT: I know of a lot of games that copies of CDs don't work. You need a crack to get them to work. So if you are going to argue that, you have to accept that people will be able to bypass this Steam thing.

Not that I don't agree with you on most of what you've said, One of the great things about Steam is the fact that once you've bought a game you can set Steam to automatically log-in and you never need to insert a CD ever again, I LOVE THIS. I even bought CS: Condition Zero in stores, just typed in the CD-Key into Steam, game was preloaded so I just played right then, put the CDs back in the box and they've been there since. I assume anyone who still plays Half-Life and or its mods have an Internet connection, even if it’s a slow ass 56k connection, almost everyone with a computer capable of playing Half-Life has an Internet connection. Those that don't have an Internet connection probably don't have a computer that could run Half-Life 2 anyway.

 

[Feath]

Feath, look i bought a MMORPG, i don't have the internet. Ohh damn now i can't play it since its online only. Ill take it back..

HL2 only requires a 1 time internet activation. Thats all, you don't have the be online for anything else... Not 1 thing. And if you can't then ohh well. Just bring the game back.

How would you feel if you bought Half-Life 2 and then found out that you can't play it because you don't have something that you shouldn't actually need.

Half-Life 2 isn't an online game, and So comparing it to a MMORPG like that is pointless.

A better analogy is that it'll be like buying a MMORPG, and it won't work because you don't have a joystick. And you control the game with a mouse and keyboard.

Why is everyone defending this? If they said "You can only play it if you wear a hat and have a beard" everyone would be saying "That doesn't make sense, PC Gameplay must've got it wrong."

 

[Frost]

Anyway, this would be really easy to bypass. Go online, Auth, go offline. Repeat. You could have hundreds of copies of Half-Life 2 playing at the same time.

I think this will be more like iTunes where when you go to authorize a computer it checks to see how many other computers you have authorized, if you have more than 3 you have to deactivate one of the other ones, if you can no longer get to that computer to deactivate it, you have to send them an e-mail and they will deactivate all of them for you... I know this because I've had to do it

 

[f|uke]

"You can only play it if you wear a hat and have a beard"

Now THAT is an excellent idea. Well, not the hat,. but the beard. It would have to be a goatee, of course. You should also be required to wear thick rimmed Gordon style glasses.

 

[Feath]

Not that I don't agree with you on most of what you've said, One of the great things about Steam is the fact that once you've bought a game you can set Steam to automatically log-in and you never need to insert a CD ever again, I LOVE THIS. I even bought CS: Condition Zero in stores, just typed in the CD-Key into Steam, game was preloaded so I just played right then, put the CDs back in the box and they've been there since. I assume anyone who still plays Half-Life and or its mods have an Internet connection, even if it’s a slow ass 56k connection, almost everyone with a computer capable of playing Half-Life has an Internet connection. Those that don't have an Internet connection probably don't have a computer that could run Half-Life 2 anyway.

Like I said, an internet connexion isn't something that comes with a PC. It comes seperately. You can have the best PC in the world but you may not have a phone line, or boardband. My flat has neither. Or you may be unwilling to pay out money for the net, for whatever reason.

I like the way you can log into Steam and not have to use the CDs, but PC Gameplay is suggesting that you need to do that even if you buy the game from a shop.

 

[Varsity]

Yes, you could do that now. I haven't even touched my CZ CDs but I've played it offline a number of times. How would they know that I was playing in offline mode on one computer and online mode on another?

You're either playing it on a Steam account - that can't be logged in more than once at any one time - or playing it non-Steam which is offline only.

 

[Feath]

You're either playing it on a Steam account - that can't be logged in more than once at any one time - or playing it non-Steam which is offline only.

You can play games offline with Steam. Just unplug your modem and open Steam and you'll see.

What I'm saying is that if you log into Steam then go offline; there's no way that Valve will know you are still on that account in Offline mode. You can then just log in on another computer and repeat. You'll be in offline mode (and able to play the games) on multiple computers but Valve won't have any way of knowing that. They only way they'll be able to confirm it is if you go online with both computers at once.

 

[f|uke]

You can play games offline with Steam. Just unplug your modem and open Steam and you'll see.

I tried this last week (disabled my wireless netcard). It didn't work. Steam gave an error about not being able to contact the server and would not load.

 

[JPack]

Why? Internet access isn't something that you can buy with a computer. It's not like saying "Any new computer will have 512mb of RAM". It depends on where you are and your income. I'm a student but I can't afford net access in my flat at Edinburgh.

Well, like I said before, it's a case piracy versus those who don't have Internet access. IMO, I suspect piracy takes a much bigger toll on Valve.

HL2 costs roughly £29.99 to £39.99. The least expensive package from BT is £6.99. Are there those who can afford HL2 but not £6.99? I'm sure there are plenty - but that's a minority.

If you combine the requisites to get HL2: a store within reasonable distance selling the game, a PC that meets the requirements, an interest in the game, et cetera, the list of people who don't have Internet access yet want HL2 will likely be small.

 

[Edcrab]

One time auth connection, presumably only for those who buy over Steam, or possibly for Steam users (whose install is recognised by HL2 when taken from CD/DVD).

I could probably cope with that if it didn't take too long- of course, it'd be a different story for others. I've only got the one line at the moment so it'd be damn annoying if it takes a ridiculous amount of time, or worse, fails to validate the game...

 

[halflifeguy]

i know this is really off topic but do you guys know if Pcgamer(US) released their new issue? the one with HL2 review??